THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2014
GENEVA -- From 15 - 19 September 2014, we welcomed eight UNA members from Australia, Belgium, Nepal, Norway, South Africa, Switzerland, and Zimbabwe for the fourth session of Civil Society in Action for Human Rights. From attending sessions of the UN Human Rights Council to workshops featuring OHCHR or NGO speakers, the enthusiastic group took advantage of the busy week to learn new advocacy strategies and refine their human rights projects. Here are our top moments from the week!
Mr. Karim Ghezraoui from the Special Procedures Division at the United Nations Offices for the High Commissioner for Human Rights, presented the scope of the Special Procedures and what action can be taken by UNAs when resorting to such procedures.
Our member from UNA-South Africa, Belinda Jackson, explains their My UPR project, which aims at empowering students to defend human rights on the eve of South Africa's UPR review in 2016.
Each UNA, including UNA-Switzerland, pictured here, presented their organization and activities.
Our Civil Society in Action for Human Rights participants had the chance to attend the first meeting of the new UN High Commissioner for Human Rights with the NGOs.
Mr. Joshua Cooper from the Hawaii Institute for Human Rights gave a great talk on his experiences as a human rights advocate for UNA-USA. He shared an example of how to get the message through to Special Rapporteurs: By creating a World-Cup like UPR viewing.
Participants were treated to a session on Effective Fundraising Skills, where WFUNA gave precious tips to participants in order to get funding from various stakeholders.
After a week of presentations and workshops, participants updated their human rights contributions and learned to draft elevator pitches to sum them up.
The week ended with a beautiful sunny day in Geneva!
